Lazy weekend recap

Still recovering from the weekend so going to cheat with a picture post:

 Halloween party over at my friend's house.  Her little girl is ADORABLE... even cuter with the ladybug costume!! She was trying to share her toys with Beans, our dog.

Following the idea I got from this awesome blog, Anthony and I taped up a pumpkin for my friend's lil girl to paint.  And by paint I mean make me and Anthony do it.

Me and the little ladybug painted her pumpkin.

Finished pumpkin after the paint dried and we took off the tape.

Pumpkin oatmeal cookies... yummy and only 50 calories each!  Recipe can be found at my foodie blog, Kitchen Adventures.

 Had a date with these three guys (sandbag, weights, and elliptical).

 Made some protein balls.

And cooked up a big batch of turkey veggie chili for the rest of the week.  Recipe coming soon!

A little more info

Got some emails about one of my last posts about my workout schedule and thought I'd try to address them here.  The main thing I wanted to say above everything else... I do NOT workout for hours on end.  On average I exercise less than an hour a day, give or take depending on how much time I have.  Some days my 30 min of steady state cardio is broken down into 3 or 4 short walking sessions.  A couple of 5 or 10 minute sessions throughout the day count!

Here's what my weeks have looked like:

Sun: 30 min steady state cardio + 30 min circuit weight-training(WT)
Mon: 25 min HIIT
Tue:  60 min circuit WT
Wed:  25 min HIIT + 30 min steady state cardio
Thr: OFF  =)
Fri: 45 min full body heavy WT
Sat: 25 min HIIT + 30 min steady state cardio

steady state cardio - any type of cardio to get your heart rate up, with not much variation in intensity.
Example: jumping on the treadmill and keeping the speed and incline level around the same for the entire workout, going for a walk, etc.

circuit WT - doing a strength moved followed immediately by a cardio move.
Example: bicep curl followed by 30 jumping jacks followed by shoulder presses followed by 30 high knees followed by one-arm rows followed by 30 mountain climbers followed by push-up followed by 30 jumping squats.  Rest 1 - 2 minutes and repeat 3 or 4 more times.

HIIT - short burst of high intensity work followed by a longer lower intensity recovery period
Example: 45 seconds of sprinting followed by 90 seconds of a slow jog/walk and repeat 10 times

heavy WT - using enough weight so you can only crank out 6 - 8 reps per set
Example: 8 reps of 20 lbs. bicep curls, 6 reps of 40 lbs. chest press, etc.

Right now, my circuit trainings are made up of upper body strength sets followed by lower body cardio sets because my lower body gets a good workout when I do HIIT 3x a week and the full body heavy WT. 

My HIIT workouts get rotated between the treadmill, elliptical, stairmill, running stairs and jump roping.

This is what works for me.  As with any exercise or workout program, I believe the best program is something that you will do and more importantly enjoy.

Weigh-in Wednesdays: Bringing it back

That's right... bringing back "Weigh-in Wednesdays"! It kept me accountable back then so it should do it now too... right?!

Starting weight: 176.4
Last week weight: 144.5
Current weight: 143.5
Current loss:-1.0

TOTAL LOSS: -32.9

The only thing I can say right now is that hard work and consistency are paying off.  I have changed up my workout routines to include:

1 day rest
2 days circuit weight training
1 day heavy weight training
3 days 25 min high intensity interval training (HIIT)
3 days steady-state cardio

Yes... that doesn't add up to 7 days but it's because I double up on some days.  For example, my Fridays and Sundays are always made up of an early cardio session in the morning then a circuit weight training in the afternoon.

I gotta say, HIIT and circuit-style weight training has changed my life in the past two months...  if you're not familiar with HIIT, definitely look into it and add it to your routine, like, NOW!  It's basically a short burst (anywhere from 20 seconds to a minute) of high intensity activity followed by a slightly longer (1 to 2 minutes) recovery period... wash, rinse and repeat.  Because HIIT is high-intensity, it's usually recommended that you keep the session short (about 20 - 30 minutes)... and if you're doing it correctly, that should be all you can handle.  =)

A lot of people think HIIT is for the elite athlete or someone in super good shape but that's not so.  The great thing about HIIT is that it fits into the fitness level of the individual doing it.  

If you're new to exercise or a beginner, start out with 30 seconds of power walking - swing those arms to get your heart rate up even higher - followed by 2 minutes of walking. 

If you're in pretty good shape, sprint as fast as you can for your intensity portion and jog it out at a slow pace for your recovery.

Hope you give it a try!

Always want what we can't have

One thing I find super interesting is the fact that when we can't do or have something, we want it more.

Tell me I can't have food for 12 hours before my blood test and food becomes this "I'll-give-up-one-year-of-my-life-to-have-a-bite-of-anything" sort of thing.

(source)

Gym is closed today?  But I can't go on with my life without getting my workout in today at the GYM right NNNOOOOWWWWW!

Recently, like for the last several months, I've been having knee problems and my desire to get in a good intense workout has never been this strong... E.V.E.R.  It's crazy!  I've had all the time in the world before my knee was hurting to get in all the crazy plyometric workouts I wanted but of course, I always had the option of "putting it off until tomorrow".

But now that I don't have the option to do them at all... that's all I want to do!!!

The up-side to all of this is that I've really focused on making sure my nutrition is good (since I can't get in the cardio sessions I'm used to) and weight-lifting has never been so consistent in my routine before.  For the last two years, weight-training has been a 2x, maybe 3x, a week thing for me, but for the last month or so it's been more like a 4x, maybe 5x, a week thing (doing splits each day so each muscle group has at least 48 hours of rest).

The awesome thing about doing this much weights... the muscle definition is definitely coming back.  Even though I'm 10ish lbs. heavier then my lowest weight of 135 last year, the way 145 lbs. looks on me now is totally different then what it looked like the first time I was at 145.  In fact, the boyfriend has said right now I look almost like I did at 135.

I can't wait to cut down more fat and see even more definition... talk about motivation!

Wow...

... I know I said I'd be back in the AM for a post... guess I should have specified which AM.  :)

 Anyway, if you're still following me I'm hoping to really start blogging again... like for real this time. 

Reasons why:

1.)  Motivation is back BABY! The past month or so has been pretty good... in fact, pretty amazing.  Nutrition is down to a consistency and workouts... oh, workouts... how I've missed you!  Motivation is such a funny thing because to have it, you kinda have to have a reason to have it (follow me?).  But to have a reason to, you kinda have to have motivation.  I hate catch-22's, but when they work, they work. 

2.)  Check out my stats to the right... notice that the weight has F.I.N.A.L.L.Y. started to come back down?  I've lost 10 of the 30 lbs. I regained from the 50ish I originally lost.  As a recap...

college years = MAJOR weight gain

2008 = heaviest weight ever at 176 and decided that was it

2009-2010 = lost about 50 lbs. 

2010 = put 30 of those lbs. back on

2011 = fighting the good fight ever since

Yup, being consistent with exercise and nutrition will get you back on track... who knew, right?

3.)  I really miss the people and support I found from the blog world.

4.)  Blogging was fun for me and now I have more time to do it.  Over the past year I was super busy with work related stuff and just never wanted to be on the computer if I didn't have to.  Plus, when you regain weight, how fun is that to talk about?

So here's hoping that you'll be seeing me more often!